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reef10
02/13/2006, 11:00 AM
What is the average experience for people buying new fish from either a LFS or an online order. What kinds of fish losses have people seen with new fish. Any fish that dies in the first month should be counted as a new fish loss. I run all my fish through QT but it is just depressing how many don't make it for some reason or another. I just want to know if I am alone in this or is this somewhat common.

Paintbug
02/13/2006, 11:05 AM
i lost the first 3 fish i bought soon after putting them in the tank, since then i have only lost one fish. a lawnmower blenny. i lost him 2-3 days after i put him in the tank. dont know if he was attacked or just died then eaten, but when i found him he was in the grasp of my emerald crab, and a nassiarus snail. i have had my coral beauty about 9-10 months now he was the 4 fish i added.

Ploppers
02/13/2006, 03:25 PM
I'm doing pretty good so far. I've only bought 1 fish locally, a foxface, and he's doing great. I did order 4 true percs (2 for me, 2 for a friend) and one was d.o.a. I also had 1 of 4 peppermint shrimp die in shipping. All the snails, crabs, and a pistol shrimp have arrived just fine. :)

I just recieved a wheeler's watchman goby on Friday. It seems to be doing good so far, not eating yet though.

BigBert96
02/13/2006, 03:29 PM
I have about a 40% mortality rate after 3 years in the hobby.

reef10
02/14/2006, 12:05 PM
wow. These rates definatly mirror my own. I am about at 50%. After they make it through the QT and are in the main tank they seem to do great. Getting them there is a very diffcult road to travel. I have recieved some DOA but my last order was in great shape until they started comming down with problems. LFS or online does not seeem to make a difference. Does anybody have any ideas on how to reduce the body count? I already acclimate very slow and watch parameters so it isn't the common problems.

jamal-188
02/14/2006, 12:20 PM
I'm probably about 50% too. I never understand it, I do everything as suggested, QT with daily water changes. I even keep LR in the QT tank and use ceramic rings that are left in my main sump to keep water quality good.

My most mind boggling problem is keeping a yellow tang....have had 4 now, 3 of which lived past the QT from about 3-9 months and just die of unexplained reasons....

buzzer
02/14/2006, 02:48 PM
I have been very fortunate as I have had 10 fish in nearly 2 years now and only lost the 1 which was a scooter blenny who died almost a year to the day I bought him.

2crazyreefers
02/14/2006, 03:16 PM
Our best lfs fish store will not even sell fish until they are eating well. We can pick the fish we want and they hold them for up to a week to do their best to insure they are healthy. They always feed them right in front of us so we can see them eat. To me this is much better than online ordering, you just dont get this kind of service on the net.

rustybucket145
02/14/2006, 03:54 PM
(knock on wood) With about 7 years under my belt I have only lost one fish (hog nosed puffer) due to the supplier. I have been lucky. But I carefully pick out the fish that I buy. I try to make sure they are healthy and not stressed out.

I have had fish die in the tank after years of living there. I have also had a few fish and several shrimp become someone elses dinner.

reef10
02/14/2006, 06:51 PM
2crazyreefers: I have seen a few places that hold fish but none are near me. The local stores can not even tell how long they have had the fish. Most of the time the answer to the question is "We have high turnover and get shipments on tuesday so probably 4 days." Not a confidenance builder. I have better luck with shipment because they know if the fish does not live for 5 or 14 days they don't make money on the fish. They seem to ship a good quality fish. The local stores will not gaurantee anything once its paid for. $.02